BJP first list by Sept 15, sops for Poorvanchalis

The Delhi BJP would come up with its first list of candidates for the Assembly elections by September 15, the party said on Wednesday. The party also announced a slew of sops for Poorvanchalis.

Chaired by Delhi poll incharge Nitin Gadkari, the newly-created election committee of the party met for the first time on Wednesday.

Senior BJP leaders said the election committee would finalise the candidate list and send it to the national election committee for approval.

With an eye on voters from Poorvanchal (a region comprising eastern Uttar Pradesh and some districts of Bihar and Jharkhand), the party promised to declare ‘Chhath’ — the main festival of the people from the region — a public holiday.

The party promised a number of other sops for the Poorvanchali community, which has nearly 30 lakh voters in Delhi.

At a conference of the party’s Poorvanchal Morcha, Gadkari promised medical benefits under the free health insurance scheme and 10 lakh low-cost houses to benefit economically weak families among people from Poorvanchal.

“People of Poorvanchal will be given equal opportunities. I want to assure you, if BJP is voted to power in Delhi, Chhath puja will be declared a public holiday,” said Gadkari.

“If the party comes to power, the 30 lakh people residing in Delhi will be given medical benefits under the free health insurance scheme,” he said.

Gadkari attacked Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for blaming the migrant population in the Capital for rising crime.

Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel said: “The BJP government will construct 10 lakh low-cost houses and the majority of them would be given to the people from the community.”

Goel assured of bringing down power tariff by 30 per cent.

The party announced a ‘working group’ comprising former party presidents, general secretaries and other senior members to take care of election affairs.

A few leaders who had been left out of the election committee and the core election group have been given place in the working group.

Former legislator Vijay Jolly and Pawan Sharma have been inducted in the main election committee group. Sources said former Mayor Arti Mehra, who was earlier a special invitee to the election committee, has been included as a permanent member of the group.

In an indirect swipe against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Goel said the main electoral battle in Delhi is between the BJP and the Congress. The newly-formed AAP has been campaigning aggressively for the elections, scheduled to be held in November.